


Everyday Magic

by Gabberwocky



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Everyday Magic, M/M, Magical Realism, magic is normal au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 12:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10877043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabberwocky/pseuds/Gabberwocky
Summary: Everyone has magic.





	Everyday Magic

Everyone has magic. Asahi heard that his whole life. “Oh, everyone has magic.” “You’ll grow into it!” “You haven’t found it yet!” Everyone has magic.

Except Asahi.

* * *

 

                “You’re sure you have nothing?” Suga asked for the umpteenth time in the first year that Asahi’d known him, flowers blooming from his hair as Daichi leaned against him. “Everyone has something!”

                “Yes,” Asahi reiterated. “I’m sure! I’ve been sure for years! I have nothing!”

                “Hey,” Daichi spoke now, sitting up. “Relax. It’s ok.” The other boy smiled. “It’s ok to not have anything.”

                Asahi scoffed. “It means I’m weird. Like I need any help with that!”

                “You’re not weird Asahi, you’re just…” Daichi searched for the right word.

                “Different.” Suga supplied.

                Asahi rolled his eyes. “Because that’s so much better. Thanks, Suga.”

                “There’s nothing wrong with being different, Asahi.”

                “Easy for you to say, you two fit in. Even if I had magic, I’d stand out.”

                “That’s not true!” Suga said.

                “It is! I’m six foot one, apparently terrifying, and have all the ferocity of a limp noodle!”

                “And a very high opinion of yourself.” Daichi said scathingly.

                “Haha.” Asahi laughed. “You’re so funny.”

                Suga sat up fully from his lounge against the school building. “Seriously, Asahi, you’re an amazing guy. Magic or no, terrifying face- which I don’t believe you have- or no, you’re a really nice person. I wish you’d have more confidence in yourself.”

                Daichi nodded. “We tease you sometimes, but that’s really all it is, just teasing.”

                Asahi shrunk into himself a little bit. “I know…”

                For the rest of the year, Suga and Daichi kept trying to bolster Asahi’s confidence from the outside. It was little things, a slap on the back, a note after volleyball practice, a “stand up straighter, you’ll feel better” in the halls.

                Nothing really worked; on and off the court Asahi was as shy and nervous as ever. His spikes were strong, but he lacked the confidence to accept praise from the upperclassmen, deflecting it to the setter with a “Oh, it was just the set.”

                His anxiety followed in the shadows, a morbid reminder that he wasn’t quite right. He wasn’t quite there, in the moment.

                He’d had friends, back in junior high, who joked that his anxiety was his magic, that the wonderful thing for everyone else was the oppressive black cloud that hung over him and, sometimes, people who stayed around him for too long.

                Those friends left as soon as they could, desperate to escape the black that hung around Asahi like a cape. It was hard, but Asahi never complained. He didn’t have a right to; it was his black that made everyone run away. They left, and he sunk deeper into it.

                When the third years graduated and the former second years took their place, Suga, Daichi, and Asahi became the mentors to a new group of first years, each one crackling with their own magic.

                There were five of them:

                Ennoshita, with his calming presence and quiet magic.

                Kinnoshita, his magic small but present in the bracelets of light ringing his wrists.

                Narita, the opposite of Kinnoshita magic wise, bracelets of shadow.

                Tanaka, magic grounded and earthy.

                And finally, Nishinoya, magic thundering from his tiny body.

                Asahi took a step back slightly as Nishinoya bounded up to him, electricity charging the air around him. The other gazed up, excited to meet the older boy.

                “Hello!” Nishinoya bowed. “I’m Nishinoya Yuu, but you can call me Noya, if you want.”

                “A-azumane Asahi.” Asahi returned. “It’s nice to meet you.”

                Noya beamed. “It’s nice to meet you too, Azumane-san!” He turned and ran towards the other first-years, shouting “Ryuu!” before jumping onto Tanaka’s back, both boys laughing.

                Asahi stared, envious of both Nishinoya’s easy confidence and excessive magic.

                Weeks passed, and Noya and Asahi fell into friendship. It happened suddenly, for Asahi. One minute he was staring longingly at Nishinoya’s smile, the next that smile and laugh were directed at something he said. It was exhilarating and Asahi wondered if the rush of electricity he felt around Noya was the boy’s magic or something else. Asahi spent every moment he could with his underclassman, and Noya seemed to thrive on the attention.

                The black seemed to ease when Asahi was with Nishinoya. It eased when he was with Daichi and Suga too, just not to the extent it did when he was with the lightning strike that was the first year libero. It wasn’t gone, not at all, but it was easier. Lighter. Not as oppressive. Asahi figured it had something to do with the other’s magic- the free nature of the storm brewing under his skin.

                But still it followed, slinking through the shadows of Asahi’s mind, whispering words of inadequacy and self loathing. Looking for the right moment to strike.

                It found it when Asahi’s fragile confidence that had been slowly building since his first year was shattered under the impact of the Iron Wall; an opposing volleyball team that specialized in defense, bolstered by a thin undercurrent of defensive magic. None of Asahi’s spikes could break through, and he was reminded again how weak, how useless he was in the face of magic-users.

                As the black of anxiety snapped back into place, Asahi blamed himself for their loss that day; how could they call him the ace if he couldn’t get a single spike through? How could he have forgotten that he’s broken, that his magic had turned against him and suffocates him now as an oppressive cloud.

                Nishinoya disagreed, believing it was his mix of defensive specialization and offensive magic that failed the team; he couldn’t move fast enough to stop the ball from dropping.

                The shouting match that ensued as a result sent waves of static crackling through the air from Nishinoya’s body, making hair stand on end and low sounds of thunder rumble out before Tanaka grabbed him, hauling him off and away, his own magic dampening Nishinoya’s.

                A few days later, Tanaka wasn’t there.

                A few days later, when Asahi’d stopped coming to volleyball practice, Nishinoya stopped him in the hall. And then Asahi rememberd why Nishinoya was never alone; why he was always with people that can ground him.

                Because as soon as they started arguing again; as soon as he said he didn’t want to come back to the team, a thunderstorm erupted in the hallway, spinning as out of control as Nishinoya’s emotions, anger in the thunderclaps, disbelief in the lightning strikes, sorrow in the rain.

                It was like in the cartoons, when a character was sad and they were followed around by their own personal raincloud. Except this was _huge_ and _violent_ and looked much closer to a typhoon than to a thunderstorm. It drenched everyone in the hallway and, as Asahi walked away, his shirt clinging to him, he heard Nishinoya get suspended for using magic at school.

                Asahi’d been caught by Nishinoya’s storms before, but they were always smaller, lighter. Created so that he could relax in the rain or just to let off some steam. Those storms left Asahi feeling clean, relaxed, even like he was floating on the clouds Noya could create.

                This storm was the opposite; it left Asahi feeling heavy, trapped, drenched. Like someone had added five tons to the weight of the world he carried on his shoulders. It left him in the dark alone, where the other storms washed the black away.

                It was like that for a month, Asahi off the court and quiet again, avoiding confrontation and teasing for being magicless, Nishinoya stuck at home trying to contain the thunderstorm inside him without Asahi’s calming presence.

                Then sunshine and shadow came to the school, with moonlight and star shine behind them. The new first years, Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi. The change in the team was tangible, each new member finding balance with the other, even with Nishinoya’s storm and Hinata’s sunshine.

                The two helped drag Asahi back to the team, and he smiled for the first time in a while when he saw Nishinoya perfectly receive the ball again. The black seemed to lift, even more fully than it had before in Noya’s presence, burned into the deep shadows by sunshine and lightning strikes. He felt a calm settle over the team and after practice, the two talked.

                “Asahi-san, why did you leave?”

                “I didn’t think…” Asahi trailed off, trying to find the right wording. “How can I be the ace when I don’t have magic?”

                Nishinoya smiles. “Everyone has magic, Asahi-san.”

                “Not me. I haven’t had any magic my whole life.”

                “Yes you do.”

                “No, I don’t!”

                “It’s in your smile, Asahi.” Nishinoya said, dropping the suffix. “Every time you smile, everyone gets a little happier.”

                “That’s not magic, Nishinoya.”

                Nishinoya smiles. “Yes it is. It’s everyday magic, not like mine or Hinata’s. Yours you don’t have to control, it’s always there.”

                Asahi looks down. “I… thank you, Nishinoya.”

                Nishinoya nods. “Anytime.”

                They walk back into the gym, together. It’s not fixed, it wouldn’t be that easy, the anxiety still follows, hiding in the shadows, but, Asahi thinks, looking over the team, they’re getting there.

                And maybe his Everyday Magic can help.


End file.
